REPORT SAYS ‘RIGHT-TO-VOTE’ INITIATIVE IS FLAWED, MAY RAISE BUILDING HEIGHTS

Proposed document may raise building heights, could violate state housing laws

A proposed ballot initiative that aims to control development and limit building heights in Encinitas might actually make it easier to build taller structures in town, according to a new city-funded report.

The report, by the Costa Mesa law firm Rutan &Tucker, says that’s just one of myriad problems the proposed “Right to Vote” initiative might cause for Encinitas.

It argues that the initiative would conflict with many city and state planning documents, could violate state housing laws, and might cause the city to be sued by developers.

However, Bruce Ehlers, the spokesman for a group that collected enough signatures to get the initiative on the ballot, said Friday that the new report is kind of a Chicken Little “sky is falling” document that takes an extreme position on every issue it mentions.

“It throws everything at us that they could possibly think of,” he said.

Ehlers and other initiative supporters say their “Right to Vote” initiative just changes who approves major development projects by shifting control away from the City Council and placing it in the hands of voters.

The initiative, which was submitted for ballot certification in December, would require a public vote to change a property’s zoning or increase its allowable housing density.

It would also set a citywide building height limit of 30 feet and expand the city’s public notification requirements for development proposals.

The City Council is to debate what to do with the proposed initiative at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 505 S. Vulcan Ave.

Council members can directly adopt the initiative within 10 days as written, or they can order a special election. And, if they decide to go the election route, they can also debate whether to take a position on the initiative and whether to submit a statement for the ballot declaring the council’s position.

A special election would occur June 18, according to the city clerk’s office.

Encinitas business advocate Mike Andreen said Friday that a new group called the Committee for the Preservation of Encinitas Property Rights has formed to oppose the initiative and its members will attend Tuesday’s meeting.

“Basically, what we’re going to ask (council members) Tuesday night is not to adopt it, but to set it for election and not to endorse it,” he said.

The Rutan & Tucker initiative report, which the City Council ordered in February, can be viewed on the city’s website. Among other things, it declares that one unintended consequence of the initiative may be that it actually encourages taller buildings.

“Paradoxically, Section 6.1 of the Initiative’s absolute height restriction could be construed to raise the height limit for certain buildings and structures above the height that is currently allowed in the zoning code,” the report states.

That’s because the proposed “Right to Vote” initiative would supersede all other city code provisions, including ones that now set building heights lower than 30 feet in some residential and agricultural zones, it states.

Before the report came out, initiative supporters had said they had concerns about whether the city-funded assessment would be unbiased. The company picked for the job counts developers among its clients, they had said.

On Friday, Ehlers said the document was what could be expected from a large legal company that represents many developers and is located in “the middle of overdeveloped Orange County.”